Conventional mobile terminals, such as cellular telephones, have a multi-key keypad whereby the user is enabled to enter a phone number to be dialed. Many modern cellular telephones also include a display, normally a low power liquid crystal display (LCD), whereby information is displayed to the user. This information can include numbers, names, messages, menu functions, settings, and other application information (e.g., timers, etc.) realting to various operating parameters of the telephone. In this case the keypad can also be used for interacting with the display for selecting various ones of the menus and for entering data required by particular menu and other functions.
In all such devices an important aspect of the terminal's operation is the ease of use of the user interface (e.g., the size and accessibility of the keypad keys) and the size and readability of the displayed information. These considerations become especially important for those with impaired sight. However, the trend in designing such handheld communications equipment is to make the devices smaller and less obtrusive when carried by the user.
Since the user interface is a portion of the terminal that the average user interacts with on a regular basis, and may be the most familiar with, it is important that the user interface be seen as being as "user friendly" as possible, without, however, sacrificing the required functionality.